Starting in February, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of Texas is implementing a new exclusionary requirement in the process for registering a car or renewing a registration within the state.
This is the ID Rule, which requires, in a mandatory manner, that the person present a valid, unexpired photo ID issued by the government. This rules out the possibility for any immigrant who has not yet obtained a green card or visa.
What documents are valid to present?
Only documents that verify identity and are currently valid will be accepted:
It is essential that these documents be valid and in force for submission.
Which procedures will be affected?
The procedures that would begin implementation under this recent change would include new vehicle registrations, renewals of existing registrations, or transactions between county tax offices and car dealerships.
In addition, the relevant authorities are focusing on streamlining these procedures in order to make them easier to carry out.
What arguments did the Texas DMV present?
However, it is anticipated that this measure could not only affect undocumented immigrants as Harrison intends but also reach citizens whose documents have expired due to reported delays in ID renewal procedures.
State Representative Brian Harrison defended this new rule by arguing that it is an attempt to “impede undocumented immigrants from registering vehicles in Texas", since according to the rationale offered by the Republican, it would affect road safety and insurance premiums.